Promoting safe walking and cycling to improve public health: lessons from the Netherlands and Germany

Pucher and Dijkstra examine the public health consequences of unsafe and inconvenient walking and bicycling conditions in American cities to suggest improvements based on successful policies in The Netherlands and Germany. Results reveal that American pedestrians and cyclists were much more likely to be killed or injured than were Dutch and German pedestrians and cyclists, both on a per-trip and on a per-kilometre basis.